Library / Laws / 113th / hr / H.R. 3 / Placed on Calendar (Senate)
II
Calendar No. 81
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED
STATES
May 23, 2013
Received; read the first time
June 3, 2013
Read the second time and placed on the
calendar
AN ACT
To approve the construction, operation, and
maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline, and for other
purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Northern Route Approval
Act.
2.
Findings
The Congress finds the following:
(1) To maintain our Nation’s competitive edge
and ensure an economy built to last, the United States must have fast,
reliable, resilient, and environmentally sound means of moving energy. In a
global economy, we will compete for the world’s investments based in
significant part on the quality of our infrastructure. Investing in the
Nation’s infrastructure provides immediate and long-term economic benefits for
local communities and the Nation as a whole.
(2) The delivery of
oil from Canada, a close ally not only in proximity but in shared values and
ideals, to domestic markets is in the national interest because of the need to
lessen dependence upon insecure foreign sources.
(3) The Keystone XL pipeline would provide both
short-term and long-term employment opportunities and related labor income
benefits, such as government revenues associated with taxes.
(4) The State of Nebraska has thoroughly
reviewed and approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline reroute, concluding
that the concerns of Nebraskans have had a major influence on the pipeline
reroute and that the reroute will have minimal environmental impacts.
(5) The Department of
State and other Federal agencies have over a long period of time conducted
extensive studies and analysis of the technical aspects and of the
environmental, social, and economic impacts of the proposed Keystone XL
pipeline, and—
(A) the Department of State assessments found
that the Keystone XL pipeline is not likely to impact the amount of
crude oil produced from the oil sands and that approval or
denial of the proposed project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the
rate of development in the oil sands;
(B) the Department of
State found that incremental life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated
with the Keystone XL project are estimated in the range of 0.07 to 0.83 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, with the upper end of this range
representing twelve one-thousandths of one percent of the 6,702 million metric
tons of carbon dioxide emitted in the United States in 2011; and
(C) after extensive
evaluation of potential impacts to land and water resources along the Keystone
XL pipeline’s 875 mile proposed route, the Department of State found that
The analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and
normal operation of the proposed Project suggest that there would be no
significant impacts to most resources along the proposed Project route
(assuming Keystone complies with all laws and required conditions and
measures)..
(6) The transportation
of oil via pipeline is the safest and most economically and environmentally
effective means of doing so, and—
(A) transportation of oil via pipeline has a
record of unmatched safety and environmental protection, and the Department of
State found that Spills associated with the proposed Project that enter
the environment expected to be rare and relatively small, and that
there is no evidence of increased corrosion or other pipeline threat due
to viscosity of diluted bitumen oil that will be transported by the
Keystone XL pipeline; and
(B) plans to
incorporate 57 project-specific special conditions related to the design,
construction, and operations of the Keystone XL pipeline led the Department of
State to find that the pipeline will have a degree of safety over any
other typically constructed domestic oil pipeline.
(7) The Keystone XL is in much the same
position today as the Alaska Pipeline in 1973 prior to congressional action.
Once again, the Federal regulatory process remains an insurmountable obstacle
to a project that is likely to reduce oil imports from insecure foreign
sources.
3.
Keystone XL
permit approval
Notwithstanding Executive Order No. 13337
(3 U.S.C.
301 note), Executive Order No. 11423 (3 U.S.C. 301 note),
section
301 of title 3, United States Code, and any other Executive
order or provision of law, no Presidential permit shall be required for the
pipeline described in the application filed on May 4, 2012, by TransCanada
Keystone Pipeline, L.P. to the Department of State for the Keystone XL
pipeline, as supplemented to include the Nebraska reroute evaluated in the
Final Evaluation Report issued by the Nebraska Department of Environmental
Quality in January 2013 and approved by the Nebraska governor. The final
environmental impact statement issued by the Secretary of State on August 26,
2011, coupled with the Final Evaluation Report described in the previous
sentence, shall be considered to satisfy all requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and of the
National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
4.
Judicial
review
(a)
Exclusive
jurisdiction
Except for
review by the Supreme Court on writ of certiorari, the United States Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall have original and exclusive
jurisdiction to determine—
(1) the validity of any final order or action
(including a failure to act) of any Federal agency or officer with respect to
issuance of a permit relating to the construction or maintenance of the
Keystone XL pipeline, including any final order or action deemed to be taken,
made, granted, or issued;
(2) the constitutionality of any provision of
this Act, or any decision or action taken, made, granted, or issued, or deemed
to be taken, made, granted, or issued under this Act; or
(3) the adequacy of any environmental impact
statement prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.), or of any analysis under any other Act, with respect to
any action taken, made, granted, or issued, or deemed to be taken, made,
granted, or issued under this Act.
(b)
Deadline for
filing claim
A claim arising
under this Act may be brought not later than 60 days after the date of the
decision or action giving rise to the claim.
(c)
Expedited
consideration
The United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall set any
action brought under subsection (a) for expedited consideration, taking into
account the national interest of enhancing national energy security by
providing access to the significant oil reserves in Canada that are needed to
meet the demand for oil.
5.
American burying
beetle
(a)
Findings
The Congress finds that—
(1) environmental
reviews performed for the Keystone XL pipeline project satisfy the requirements
of section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.
1536(a)(2)) in its entirety; and
(2) for purposes of that Act, the Keystone XL
pipeline project will not jeopardize the continued existence of the American
burying beetle or destroy or adversely modify American burying beetle critical
habitat.
(b)
Biological
opinion
The Secretary of the
Interior is deemed to have issued a written statement setting forth the
Secretary’s opinion containing such findings under section 7(b)(1)(A) of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(b)(1)(A)) and any
taking of the American burying beetle that is incidental to the construction or
operation and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline as it may be ultimately
defined in its entirety, shall not be considered a prohibited taking of such
species under such Act.
6.
Right-of-way and
temporary use permit
The
Secretary of the Interior is deemed to have granted or issued a grant of
right-of-way and temporary use permit under section 28 of the Mineral Leasing
Act (30 U.S.C.
185) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
(43 U.S.C. 1701 et
seq.), as set forth in the application tendered to the Bureau
of Land Management for the Keystone XL pipeline.
7.
Permits for
activities in navigable waters
(a)
Issuance of
permits
The Secretary of the Army, not later than 90 days after
receipt of an application therefor, shall issue all permits under section 404
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) and section 10 of
the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403; commonly known as the
Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act of 1899), necessary for the construction,
operation, and maintenance of the pipeline described in the May 4, 2012,
application referred to in section 3, as supplemented by the Nebraska reroute.
The application shall be based on the administrative record for the pipeline as
of the date of enactment of this Act, which shall be considered
complete.
(b)
Waiver of
procedural requirements
The Secretary may waive any procedural
requirement of law or regulation that the Secretary considers desirable to
waive in order to accomplish the purposes of this section.
(c)
Issuance in
absence of action by the Secretary
If the Secretary has not
issued a permit described in subsection (a) on or before the last day of the
90-day period referred to in subsection (a), the permit shall be deemed issued
under section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) or
section 10 of the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403), as appropriate, on
the day following such last day.
(d)
Limitation
The
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may not prohibit or
restrict an activity or use of an area that is authorized under this
section.
8.
Migratory Bird
Treaty Act permit
The
Secretary of the Interior is deemed to have issued a special purpose permit
under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.), as described
in the application filed with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for
the Keystone XL pipeline on January 11, 2013.
9.
Oil spill
response plan disclosure
(a)
In
general
Any pipeline owner or
operator required under Federal law to develop an oil spill response plan for
the Keystone XL pipeline shall make such plan available to the Governor of each
State in which such pipeline operates to assist with emergency response
preparedness.
(b)
Updates
A pipeline owner or operator required to
make available to a Governor a plan under subsection (a) shall make available
to such Governor any update of such plan not later than 7 days after the date
on which such update is made.
Passed the House of
Representatives May 22, 2013.
Karen L. Haas,
Clerk
June 3, 2013
Read the second time and placed on the
calendar